Black Lantern Corps
:"Rise!" - Nekron History Origin The Black Lantern Corps consisted of various slain and deceased beings throughout the universe who fell into the domain of the dead. There, they were used by the Lord of The Unliving, Nekron as part of a plan to wage a war against the Emotional Spectrum. The Blackest Night Prophecy spoken by Qull of the Five Inversions foretold of The Blackest Night where the enemies of the Guardians of the Universe would rise up against them and destroy their great work. Abin Sur attempted to stop the prophecy from coming to pass and took the demon Atrocitus to Earth in order to find the bearer of "The Black". Though Abin Sur died, Atrocitus managed to discover William Hand and sought to claim the power he would unleash but the red skinned alien was defeated by Hal Jordan and Sinestro. This allowed William Hand to escape and allow the creation of the Black Lantern Corps in the future. Manipulations from The Shadows The initial stages that would bring about the birth of the Black Lantern Corps began during the Sinestro Corps War, when the Sinestro Corps declared war on the Guardians of the Universe and the Green Lantern Corps. Under the leadership of Sinestro, the Anti-Monitor, Superman-Prime, Cyborg Superman, and Parallax, the Sinestro Corps waged the most substantial battle of the Sinestro Corps War on the planet Earth, home to many of the superheroes that have thwarted the domination of its members time and time again. With the war almost over the Green Lanterns were able to take down the Anti-Monitor by hurling Warworld with its Qwardian Power Battery into him. The combined power of the Corps was able to contain the resulting blast around the Anti-Monitor. This blast was not able to kill him, but substantially damaged him and shattered his armor. Enraged at the defeat the Sinestro Corps was suffering, Superman Prime hurled the Anti-Monitor's body into deep space. The powerful cosmic being drifted in space and the Anti-Monitor's shriveled as well as substantially weakened physical form crash-landed on a dark, barren planet in Space Sector 0666 which was actually the planet Ryut. After the damage suffered on Earth, the Anti-Monitor was unable to protect himself when the ground around him began to envelop him, forming the Black Lantern Central Power Battery. Mean while, a female Guardian wounded in the struggle against the Anti-Monitor became corrupted by the dark energies and thus became a servant to Nekron. She began to subtlety ensure the rise of the Black Lantern Corps and her appearance gave her the name of Scar. It was she who helped instigate the War of Light by her manipulations of her fellow Guardians. She was later responsible for making William Hand kill himself to become the embodiment of death. The Blackest Night On Oa, whilst the War of Light reached its height, the Guardians realized that they had failed in stopping the prophecy and attempted to work against the coming darkness. It was then that Scar revealed her true allegiance and incapacitated her fellow Guardians. Whilst this was happening, Black Lantern Power Rings were spawned and resurrecting the dead to attack the living in order to turn them into Black Lanterns. The Black Power Rings shattered the protective shell around Oa and entered the Crypts of The Green Lantern Corps as well as the Sciencells where they resurrected the dead. On Zamaron, the black rings resurrected the two lovers within the Star Sapphire Central Power Battery thus devastating the planet when the Predator Entity was freed. Further rings came to Qward where they resurrected the Qwardians as well as dead Sinestro Corps members who turned on their former comrades. More turned to Ysmault where Laira and the Five Inversions were brought back to life whilst the many victims of Larfleeze on Okaara were reanimated as well. In the mean time, on Earth, various previously deceased superheroes and super villains were brought back into an undead state by the power rings. Targeting their former enemies or loved ones, they killed many and allowed for their corpses to be animated by the black rings. All the emotional power the Black Lanterns were stealing from the hearts of the living were being channeled back to the Black Lantern Central Power Battery. As it reached 100%, Black Lanterns on Oa attempted to destroy the Green Lantern Central Power Battery but were stopped by Kyle Rayner though at the expense of his own life. Despite this, the Black Lantern Central Power Battery reached 100% allowing for the true master of the Black Lantern Corps to manifest into the mortal plains on Earth at Coast City. There, Nekron commanded the dead to rise once more to serve him. When the leaders of the various Lantern Corps arrived to attack Nekron, their combined light simply empowered him further. Black Hand and Nekron later used the body of deceased Batman to be reanimated in order to form an emotional tether to various resurrected superheroes who were claimed by black power rings and turned into Black Lanterns who followed Nekron in his war against the light. Throughout the universe, the dead continued to rise with their ranks combating the competing interests of the warlord called Starro with a number of his mind controlled warriors being resurrected as Black Lanterns. The Black Lantern Corps later began to invade the Earth whilst their master sought to destroy the Life Entity in order to purge the cosmos of all life as it had been long ago. These undead Black Lanterns were battled by various superheroes as well as the various Lantern Corps that destroyed the Black Lantern world of Xanshi. Ultimately, the Black Lantern Corps was destroyed when Hal Jordan harnessed the power of the White Lantern Power Battery to create the White Lantern Corps. This group consisted of the various resurrected superheroes that had been temporarily transformed into Black Lanterns. The White Lanterns used the power of the White Light to finally vanquish Nekron, and the threat of the Blackest Night passed with the Black Lanterns disintegrating along with their power rings. The Blackest Night Aftermath With the end of the Blackest Night, the cosmos returned to its previous state as the Black Lantern Corps had been vanquished. As the Black Power Rings disintegrated, there were no further Black Lanterns though Lex Luthor attempted to find a means to recreate a Black Lantern Power Ring for his own purposes. Though seemingly destroyed, an aspect of the Black Lanterns returned within Firestorm when his dark undead persona emerged claiming the name Deathstorm. Torturing the two hosts of the Firestorm Matrix, Deathstorm later traveled to the White Lantern Power Battery where he corrupted it. Whilst initially he intended to destroy it in order to kill all life in the universe, a voice came and commanded him not to do so. Instead, it ordered Deathstorm to bring it an army in order for it to command the power over life itself. With those words said, the White Lantern Power Battery in conjunction with Deathstorm created undead Black Lanterns of the twelve resurrected heroes who had been reborn at the end of the Blackest Night. After Deathstorm steals the White Lantern, he, along with Firestorm, are transported to Qward in the Anti-Matter Universe, by the Anti-Monitor, revealed behind the returns of the 12 Black Lanterns. However, they are all destroyed when Ronnie and Jason teamed up, thus allowing Ronnie's labor to be accomplished and be returned to life by the White Entity. Powers and Abilities Powers The Black Lantern Power Battery contains the body of the Anti-Monitor. It is not known whether the Anti-Monitor is still alive within the battery, however his power is the source of power for the Black Lantern Corps. The Black Lantern Power Rings that were sent out have the ability to re-animate the dead. These re-animated corpses make up the members of the Black Lantern Corps. Abilities *'Reanimation': Upon being inducted into the Black Lantern Corps, dead people are restored to a fully functional state. Even if they keep the semblance of a dead, shambling corpse, Black Lantern members are resurrected with the same abilities and powers they had in life, and the same level of intelligence, though their mindset is warped by a deepening belief in death. They, however, don't possess a soul anymore, as shown by the co-existence of the soulless Black Lantern Boston Brand and his disembodied spirit, the superhero Deadman: Ray Palmer, known as The Atom explains that as the Black Ring merely instilling in dead, reanimated corpses the memories pertaining to their former lives, without actually restoring their souls and emotions, for maximizing their abilities to elicit emotions into their former families and peers; *'Healing Factor/Regeneration': No matter how much damage a Black Lantern sustains, the Black Ring will always restore it to a fully functional state, in a time directly proportionate to the punishment taken by the Corpse. Since the Black Rings bond with the corpse they're reanimating, there's no way to destroy a Black Lantern until the combination of two or more lights of the emotional spectrum shine on them: when that happens, the connection is disrupted and the Black Lantern loses his/her regenerative capabilities. *'Energy Spectrum Assimilation': Upon killing individuals feeling strong emotions, the Black Lanterns can forcibly extract their hearts and siphon away their last feeling recharging the Central Battery on their home planet. A Black Lantern power ring is charged by .01 percent for every heart collected by the bearer. *'Aura Recognition': To aid in their assimilation, the Black Lantern can see the prevalent feeling of their opponent. When the feeling reaches the maximum point, they can see a colored aura, shining with one or more of the seven Emotional Spectrum colors. When that happens, their opponents' hearts are ripe for assimilation. As a notable exception, Black Lanterns are unable to perceive the emotions of the super heroine Dove, as they can't rise her namesake and predecessor. *'Infection': The bite from a Black Lantern was capable of imparting an infection that slowly killed the victim and thus turned them into a new member of the Black Lantern Corps. The Black Lantern child of Donna Troy accomplished such a feat as he used his emotional connection with his mother to get close enough whereupon he bit her after which Troy could feel herself slowly turning into a Black Lantern. Weakness *Black Lantern power rings are apparently unable to resurrect an individual who died in a state of peace with themselves, such as the original Dove, Don Hall. They similarly can't steal the hearts of people able to balance their emotions in a peaceful white aura, as with the second Dove. *Although their rings will rebuild their bodies when damaged, a strong amount of punishment can slow them down. *Black Lanterns are apparently unable to harm an individual who feels no emotion at all, such as Jonathan Crane. *They can be destroyed if they are damaged quicker than they can regenerate, such as when a large amount of them were destroyed when drawn into Mogo's core or a Red Lantern's rage plasma. *The light of Willpower combined with one or more different power rings can disrupt their powers: it's surmised that the combined light of the Seven Emotions, by restoring the original White Light of Creation can extinguish darkness and bring on the end of the Black. Oath *Lantern Oaths Equipment *Book of The Black *Black Lantern Central Power Battery *Black Lantern Power Battery Weapons *Black Lantern Power Ring Notes *The Anti-Monitor, Powers the Central Power Battery but is not an official member because it is kept prisoner inside the Central Power Battery as its energy source. *The Former Guardians of the Universe member, Scar, is a member of the Black Lantern Corps, and the official Guardian of the Black Lantern Corps. However unlike the Guardians of the Universe who are the leaders of the Green Lantern Corps, even with Scar's rank as Guardian, she is not the leader of the Black Lantern Corps; the leader is Black Hand. Trivia *The first two members of the Black Lantern Corps were Superman (Kal-L) and The Martian Manhunter. *Later Confirmed Members of the Black Lantern Corps were Aquaman (Arthur Curry) and Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond). *When a dead person is made a Black Lantern, the ring commands them to rise. But when someone living who was resurrected is made a Lantern, they are commanded to die. Resurrected Black Lanterns also appear much less like corpses than other Black Lanterns. *The symbol on the Black Lantern Power Ring, is the same that was worn by the villain Black Hand. *Nekron is the Embodiment of Death (Scar being its Guardian, and Black Hand being its leader) Links *http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Lantern_Corps *http://www.comicvine.com/black-lantern-corps/65-50743/ Category:Teams Category:Black Lantern Corps